DOS ain't dead

disable IDE write cache (Miscellaneous)

posted by Japheth , Germany (South), 23.02.2026, 13:40

> The Linux hdparm(1) command has an option to disable the on-disk IDE write
> cache.
>
> Does DOS have a way to accomplish the same thing?

You can always talk to the device directly.

There's the ATA/ATAPI "Set Features" command (0xEF):


General feature set
− Mandatory for all devices.
− Set transfer mode subcommand is mandatory.
− Enable/disable write cache subcommands are mandatory when a write cache is implemented.
− Enable/Disable Media Status Notification sub commands are mandatory if the Removable
Media feature set is implemented.
− All other subcommands are optional.



02h Enable write cache
82h Disable write cache


I got this from document "d1153r18-ATA-ATAPI-4.pdf"

---
MS-DOS forever!

Complete thread:

• disable IDE write cache - bencollver, 23.02.2026, 05:50 (Miscellaneous)
  • disable IDE write cache - Japheth, 23.02.2026, 13:40
    • disable IDE write cache - bencollver, 23.02.2026, 17:09
  • disable IDE write cache - RayeR, 23.02.2026, 17:58
    • disable IDE write cache - bencollver, 23.02.2026, 18:44